If Michael Jackson wanted to sing against prejudice, some Jewish leaders wish he would have made his message clearer.
"They Don't Care About Us," which will be released Tuesday on Jackson's new album, includes the lyrics "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me, kick me, kike me, don't you black and white me."During a television interview Wednesday, Jackson denied he was racist and said the song refers to "myself as the victim."
Several Jewish leaders, however, said the context of the anti-Semitic slang is vague and could be misinterpreted.
"It's the ambiguity that I'm afraid of when it reaches his 20 million buyers around the world," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.
Hier believes Jackson was trying to make a statement against prejudice, but he questioned why the singer would put such slang on a pop album.
David A. Lehrer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, wondered why Jackson singled out Jews. "The words are hateful and hurtful, and hate is too serious a subject for subtleties," he said.
Hier and Lehrer suggested Jackson include a clear explanation of the song in the album package and on the video.
In the interview on "PrimeTime Live," Jackson said the song is not anti-Semitic "because I'm not a racist."
"I could never be a racist. I love all races," he said.
"My three best friends are Jewish - David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg," Jackson said. The three are partners in the DreamWorks studio.
Spielberg issued a statement Thursday distancing himself from the new album, which carries five paragraphs of liner notes Spielberg penned.
The Oscar-winning director of "Schindler's List" said he wrote the notes praising Jackson's talent and sensitivity in August 1993 for what he thought would be a retrospective album. The notes only mention past works.
The album, "HIStory Past, Present and Future Book 1," includes 15 new recordings and a compilation of Jackson's greatest hits.
"My liner notes are by no means an endorsement of any new songs that appear on what has now been released as Michael Jackson's `HIStory' album," Spielberg wrote.
In "They Don't Care About Us," Jackson fires out phrases such as "skinhead, deadhead, everybody, gone bad, situation, aggravation, everybody, allegation." He then portrays himself as a victim of police brutality and fate and begs, "Set me free."
Epic Records, which is releasing "HIStory," said the song is "a statement against prejudice of any kind."